Jon Stokes takes us on a journey through time, beginning with a trivial hypothetical processor, marching through the fundamental design decisions and trade-offs that microprocessor designers have made over the years with subsequent versions of their products.
Each major component of microprocessor architecture is described. Rarely does a book so perfectly describe a complex subject in simple and easy to understand terms. The book is full of excellent color illustrations that help drive the subject matter home.
In the introduction, Jon describes the book as an "introduction to computers that is intended to fill the gap that exists between classic but more challenging introductions to computer architecture...and the growing mass of works that are simply too basic for motivated non-specialist readers." That statement is spot on.
Topics covered include 'basic computing concepts', 'mechanics of program execution', 'pipelined execution', 'superscalar execution', '64-bit computing and X86-64' and 'caching and performance'. Processors covered include Intel (Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Core Duo, and Core 2 Duo) and Motorola (PowerPC 601, 603, 604, 604e, 750 aka G3, 7400 aka G4, G4E and 970 aka G5).
This book provides excellent, in-depth coverage of real-world microprocessor design. It earns top marks from me for its easy accessibility and high quality writing.
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